Magnetic or Not? – All things magnetism

Q: What metals/ elements are naturally and permanently magnetic?

A1: Iron-Nickel-Cobalt are magnetic to a permanent magnet only (as well as the rare earth metals gadolinium and dysprosium (when at a very low temperature).

Q: Why isn’t Stainless steel magnetic when it is comprised of 2/3 of the permanently magnetic metals along with typically about with 80% Iron?

A2: Surprisingly some is and it isn’t the 1/3 non-permanently-magnetic metals that doesn’t make stainless steel non-magnetic but instead the addition of Nickel which disrupts the magnetic structure of the metal. There are four main families, which are primarily classified by their crystalline structure: austenitic, ferritic, martensitic and duplex. Austenitic stainless steel is the largest family of stainless steels, making up about two-thirds of all stainless steel production and is essentially non-magnetic.

Sources:

1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnet#Types_of_permanent_magnets … Magnetic metallic elements

2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stainless_steel#Austenitic_stainless_steel … Austenitic stainless steel

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